Declaration Of Independence, Israeli - Proclamation read in Tel Aviv by David Ben Gurion on
May 14, 1948, declaring an independent state, to be known as the State of Israel.

Text:

Declaration of Israel's Independence 1948

Issued at Tel Aviv on May 14, 1948 (5th of Iyar, 5708)

The land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here their spiritual, religious and national identity was
formed. Here they achieved independence and created a culture of national and universal significance. Here they wrote
and gave the Bible to the world.

Exiled from Palestine, the Jewish people remained faithful to it in all the countries of their dispersion, never
ceasing to pray and hope for their return and the restoration of their national freedom.

Impelled by this historic association, Jews strove throughout the centuries to go back to the land of their fathers
and regain their statehood. In recent decades they returned in masses. They reclaimed the wilderness, revived their
language, built cities and villages and established a vigorous and ever-growing community with its own economic and
cultural life. They sought peace, but were always prepared to defend themselves. They brought the blessing of progress
to all inhabitants of the country.

In the year 1897 the First Zionist Congress, inspired by
Theodor Herzl's vision of the Jewish State, proclaimed the right of the Jewish people to national
revival in their own country.

This right was acknowledged by the Balfour Declaration of
November 2, 1917, and re-affirmed by the Mandate of the League of Nations, which gave explicit international recognition
to the historic connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and their right to reconstitute their National Home.

The Nazi holocaust, which engulfed millions of Jews in Europe, proved anew the urgency of the re-establishment of the
Jewish state, which would solve the problem of Jewish homelessness by opening the gates to all Jews and lifting the
Jewish people to equality in the family of nations.

The survivors of the European catastrophe, as well as Jews from other lands, proclaiming their right to a life of
dignity, freedom and labor, and undeterred by hazards, hardships and obstacles, have tried unceasingly to enter
Palestine.

In the Second World War the Jewish people in Palestine made a full contribution in the struggle of the freedom-loving
nations against the Nazi evil. The sacrifices of their soldiers and the efforts of their workers gained them title to
rank with the peoples who founded the United Nations.

This recognition by the United Nations of the right of the Jewish people to establish their independent State may not
be revoked. It is, moreover, the self-evident right of the Jewish people to be a nation, as all other nations, in its
own sovereign State.

ACCORDINGLY, WE, the members of the National Council, representing the Jewish people in Palestine and the
Zionist movement of the world, met together in solemn assembly today, the day of the termination of the British mandate
for Palestine, by virtue of the natural and historic right of the Jewish and of the Resolution of the General Assembly
of the United Nations,

HEREBY PROCLAIM the establishment of the Jewish State in Palestine, to be called ISRAEL.

WE HEREBY DECLARE that as from the termination of the Mandate at midnight, this night of the 14th and 15th
May, 1948, and until the setting up of the duly elected bodies of the State in accordance with a Constitution, to be
drawn up by a Constituent Assembly not later than the first day of October, 1948, the present National Council shall act
as the provisional administration, shall constitute the Provisional Government of the State of Israel.

THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be open to the immigration of Jews from all countries of their dispersion; will
promote the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; will be based on the precepts of liberty,
justice and peace taught by the Hebrew Prophets; will uphold the full social and political equality of all its citizens,
without distinction of race, creed or sex; will guarantee full freedom of conscience, worship, education and culture;
will safeguard the sanctity and inviolability of the shrines and Holy Places of all religions; and will dedicate itself
to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.

THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be ready to cooperate with the organs and representatives of the United Nations in
the implementation of the Resolution of the Assembly of November 29, 1947,
and will take steps to bring about the Economic Union over the whole of Palestine.

We appeal to the United Nations to assist the Jewish people in the building of its State and to admit Israel into the
family of nations.

In the midst of wanton aggression, we still call upon the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel to return to the
ways of peace and play their part in the development of the State, with full and equal citizenship and due
representation in its bodies and institutions - provisional or permanent.

We offer peace and neighborliness to all the neighboring states and their peoples, and invite them to cooperate with
the independent Hebrew nation for the common good of all.

Our call goes out the the Jewish people all over the world to rally to our side in the task of immigration and
development and to stand by us in the great struggle for the fulfillment of the dream of generations - the redemption of
Israel.

With trust in the rock of Israel [tsur Yisrael in the original Hebrew, figuratively referring to God, and
sometimes incorrectly translated as "Lord of Israel or "Almighty God -tr], we set our hand to this Declaration, at this
Session of the Provisional State Council, in the city of Tel Aviv, on this Sabbath eve, the fifth of Iyar, 5708, the
fourteenth day of May, 1948.

Synonyms and alternate spellings:

Further Information:

Hebrew/Arabic pronunciation and transliteration conventions:

'H - ('het) a guttural sound
made deep in the throat. To Western ears it may sound like the "ch" in loch. In Arabic there are several letters that
have similar sounds. Examples: 'hanukah, 'hamas, 'haredi. Formerly, this sound was often represented by ch,
especially in German transliterations of Hebrew. Thus, 'hanukah is often rendered as Chanuka for example.

ch - (chaf) a sound like "ch"
in loch or the Russian Kh as in Khruschev or German Ach, made by putting the tongue against
the roof of the mouth. In Hebrew, a chaf can never occur at the beginning of a word. At the beginning of a word, it has a dot in it and is pronounced "Kaf."

u - usually between oo as in spoon
and u as in put.

a- sounded like a in arm

ah- used to represent an a sound made by
the letter hey at the end of a word. It is the same sound as a. Haganah and Hagana are alternative
acceptable transliterations.

'a-notation used for Hebrew and Arabic
ayin, a guttural ah sound.

o - close to the French o as in homme.

th - (taf without a dot) - Th was
formerly used to transliterate the Hebrew taf sound for taf without a dot. However in modern Hebrew there
is no detectable difference in standard pronunciation of taf with or without a dot, and therefore Histadruth and
Histadrut, Rehovoth and Rehovot are all acceptable.

q- (quf) - In transliteration of
Hebrew and Arabic, it is best to consistently use the letter q for the quf, to avoid confusion with similar sounding
words that might be spelled with a kaf, which should be transliterated as K. Thus, Hatiqva is preferable to Hatikva for
example.